As many as two asteroids passed Earth yesterday in close proximity. One of them was nearly 120 feet wide, which is nearly the size of an aircraft! Despite their close approaches, these asteroids did not pose a threat to Earth and had no chance of impact. But how do these space rocks come close to the planet? NASA says this happens due to the interaction with a large planet's gravitational field, which can send the tumbling towards a planet, raising a potential impact scenario. With the help of its advanced tech, the US Space Agency has shed light on another asteroid that is set to pass Earth today, February 29.
Activision Was Already Planning “Significant” Layoffs Independently of Acquisition, Microsoft Says
09.02.2024 - 19:25 / gamingbolt.com
Microsoft completed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October, though life under new ownership has got off to a rough start for the latter. Last month, Microsoft announced that it was cutting 1,900 jobs across its entire gaming division, with Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox all set to be impacted.
In the wake of the news of mass layoffs, the United States’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – which tried to have the acquisition blocked due to competition concerns prior to its approval – filed a complaint with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week, saying that the layoffs are “inconsistent with Microsoft’s suggestion that the two companies will operate independently post-merger”.
In response to the FTC’s fresh complaint, Microsoft has sent a letter to the court (via VGC), in which it has claimed that, as has been the unfortunate trend in the games industry for several months running, Activision Blizzard was planning on making “significant cuts” anyway, regardless of whether or not its deal with Microsoft had gone through.
“Consistent with broader trends in the gaming industry, Activision was already planning on eliminating a significant number of jobs while still operating as an independent company,” the company said. “The recent announcement thus cannot be attributed fully to the merger.”
As part of Microsoft’s mass layoffs, it has emerged that Blizzard Entertainment ended up cancelling its unannounced survival game after six years in development, while it was recently reported that Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games and Crash Bandicoot and Spyro studio Toys for Bob had also let go significant portions of their respective workforces.
The games industry’s wave ongoing wave of layoffs has been a devastating one. Over the course of 2023, more than 6,000 people in the industry lost their jobs, and thus far, 2024 has been significantly more damaging, with over 6,300 job cuts already, less than six weeks into the year. Layoffs have been announced at a number of companies, including Riot Games, Unity, Sega, Behaviour Interactive, Lost Boys Interactive, Black Forest Games, CI Games, Thunderful Group, Visual Concepts, and People Can Fly, among others.
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videogameschronicle.com
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Insomniac calls this week’s layoffs ‘a solemn and unprecedented moment’ for the studio
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gadgets.ndtv.com
28.02.2024 / 07:15
Sony to Cut 900 Jobs at PlayStation, Shut London Studio; Naughty Dog, Insomniac Hit With Layoffs
Japan's Sony is cutting about 900 jobs at its PlayStation unit and shutting a studio in London, it said on Tuesday as the videogame industry struggles to recover from a post-pandemic slump.
tech.hindustantimes.com
28.02.2024 / 02:27
Google steps up Microsoft criticism, warns of rival's monopoly in cloud
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rockpapershotgun.com
27.02.2024 / 16:41
Sony announce 900 layoffs across Naughty Dog, Guerilla, Insomniac and PlayStation studios worldwide
Another day, another videogame company jettisoning a large number of people "who have contributed to our success" so as to position themselves for growth in the face of "challenging times". Today it's Sony's turn with the axe: the PlayStation publisher have announced plans to reduce their global workforce by about 8% or 900 people, so as "to future ready ourselves to set the business up for what lies ahead", in the words of outgoing president and CEO Jim Ryan.
thesixthaxis.com
27.02.2024 / 16:21
Mass layoffs hit Sony Interactive Entertainment – London Studio shutting down, Naughty Dog & Insomniac also affected
Sony has announced mass layoffs across PlayStation Studios with 8% or around 900 people set to be made redundant across their worldwide studios. This will include the complete shutdown of London Studio, while Naughty Dog, Insomniac and other studios are affected as well.
videogameschronicle.com
27.02.2024 / 15:02
PlayStation Studios says it’s ‘reevaluating how we operate’, confirms cancelled games
PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst has said the platform holder is “reevaluating how we operate” as part of its decision to lay off 900 employees worldwide.
gamingbolt.com
27.02.2024 / 14:47
Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Guerrilla, and Firesprite Hit with Layoffs
PlayStation has announced that it is laying off about 900 people, which is roughly 8% of its workforce, and as you might imagine for restructuring of that scale, studios across the entire company are going to be affected, including some of the biggest names under the PlayStation Studios banner.
tech.hindustantimes.com
27.02.2024 / 05:17
Two asteroids will pass Earth by close margins soon, says NASA; Check speed, size, and other details
A pair of asteroids have been spotted travelling Earthwards in their orbit by NASA. The US Space Agency issued an alert that both of these space rocks have been designated as Near-Earth Asteroids, and will pass the planet by close margins. These close approaches follow the continuing trend of asteroid flybys in recent months. From size and speed to distance of close approach, know all about these asteroids.
polygon.com
26.02.2024 / 16:07
The grassroots campaign that challenged Last Airbender whitewashing and woke up Hollywood
Mike Le was furious. Maybe sad? There was a touch of despair. On the morning of Dec. 9, 2008, news broke that M. Night Shyamalan had cast his upcoming live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. Le, then a grad student at UCLA, was a huge fan of the animated series — but Shyamalan’s take for Paramount Pictures looked like a disaster. In his mind, Avatar was an explicitly Asian-inspired fantasy, an Eastern Lord of the Rings with martial arts. So why were all of Shyamalan’s actors white?
tech.hindustantimes.com
26.02.2024 / 06:42
House-sized asteroid to pass Earth soon, says NASA; Know how close it will get
With the help of advanced tech marvels such as the NEOWISE telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Pans-STARRS1, and Catalina Sky Survey, NASA has shed light on an asteroid that is expected to pass Earth by a close margin on February 27. While the asteroid will come close to Earth, it is not expected to impact the surface, the US Space Agency has further revealed. Know the details of this close encounter with Asteroid 2024 CT7.
gamingbolt.com
23.02.2024 / 16:22
Tekken 8 Was January’s Best-Selling New Release in the US
January was a big month for major new game releases, and several of them have debuted high in the latest monthly charts for video game software sales in the US, released by Circana (formerly the NPD Group). Shared by Circana analyst Mat Piscatella on Twitter, though Call of Duty: Modern Warfare topped the software sales for Japan, it’s accompanied by a number of newly released titles.